Secrets
by MamaKel
Summary: Rachel and Finn have graduated and spent the summer together, but now Finn is headed to Afgahnistan and Rachel is headed to NYU, Rachel has a secret, will Finn find out?
1. Chapter 1

**Don't own Glee, if I did there would be a lot more Finchel and a lot less Fuinn!**

The summer after graduation had been almost perfect for them. Finn and Rachel had spent nearly every moment together, neither really wanting to think about what the fall would bring. In September Finn would enter basic training in South Carolina, and Rachel would be headed to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts. The initial seperation wouldn't be so hard, but Finn had been uneasy about something else. Somewhere deep in his gut he knew he wouldn't be headed home anytime soon. It came as no surprise to him when at the end of training he found out that his platoon would be shipping out to Afghanistan almost immeadiatly. Although on the outside he seemed cool and collected he was terrified, not for himself, but for his mom, who had already lost his father to war, and for Rachel. One thought kept running through his mind, Rachel would be waiting for him to come home, but what if he _didn't _come home?

Finn quickly decided that he couldn't let Rachel wait on a dead man. His mother had done that, and one day instead of his father another man in uniform had come to their door with the news that every army wife fears. Maybe it was stupid, but he couldn't let Rachel go through that. If they were meant to be together then when he got back they would be able to pick back up where they left off.

It wouldn't be so easy to get Rachel to let go of him though, honestly he didn't really want her to at all, but it was for the best. Finn had to come up with some sort of a plan to "break up" with Rachel. The thought made him feel sick.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Rachel had been at NYU for only about a month when the symptoms started. One moment she would be running to the bathroom loosing her last meal, and the next she would be fine. Her breasts suddenly seemed…larger? And they hurt, she could barely get through her eliptical workouts in the mornings because of them. Still she didn't put anything together until six weeks after school started. She was at the pharmacy trying to figure out what to take for her weird symptoms when she found herself in what Finn always called, "the girls aisle" and avoided like the plague. Thinking of Finn and chuckling she glanced up right in time to come face to face with the pregnancy tests.

"Oh no. No no no no no." She muttered. When was her last period? It had been before she had gotten to school, before she and Finn had… "Crap!"

**XXXXXXXXXX**

A week before school had started Rachel had been at Finn's house during one of those rare moments when no one else was home. She and Finn had been on his bed, his had running up under her skirt her hands up his shirt.

"Oh G-d Rach!" Finn moaned, "Why can't I just go to New York with you?"

"Finn," Rachel whined, "You have to make a life for yourself, you can't just follow me and say that's what you want. I can't hold you back like that!"

"I don't care about being held back," he said while flicking his hand over her center, his thumb feeling the wet cotton that covered her, the motion eliciting a moan from Rachel that made his pants even tighter. "As long as I have you and can do this, I don't care. I love you Rach."

Rachel's hips bucked as Finn brushed his thumb over her clit again, "Finn," she said breathily as she reached to pull down his cargo shorts, "make love to me."

Finn gave his half grin and reached to his nightstand to find a condom, opening the door he found nothing but an empty box. He looked at Rachel who had watched his movements.

"Finn, this probably isn't the smartest thing I'll ever say, but I trust you. Please just pull out at the end, I don't want to loose this moment."

Finn grabbed her lowering them both onto his pillow diving into her and nearly cuming at the new sensation the skin on skin contact provided. He chanted mailman in his head to gain control and started to move slowly in and out of Rachel.

"I love you Finn," Rachel moaned a few minutes later right before her climax over took her.

Finn pumped into her a few more times before he came hard, completely forgetting that the barrier they usually relied on wasn't there.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

Sitting in her dorm bathroom Rachel started at the three pregnancy tests she had just taken, yes all at once, she _had_ to be sure. Within a minute all three stared back at her with undoubtedly positive results, especially the digital one that spelled "pregnant" back at her. Tears started to roll down her face.

She had to tell Finn. After training she decided, it wasn't fair to put this stress on him right now. Plus that would give her enough time to go to the doctor and get more information.


	2. Chapter 2

**Oh my gosh, thank you so much for all the reviews andstory alerts, I really wasn't expecting that! Here's to hoping for some Finchel tomorrow night!**

**BTW I don't own Glee.**

Rachel was nearly 11 weeks pregnant when she was able to get in for her first ultrasound. Lucky for her the doctor had recommended that she go in for one so they could get an exact gestation date and make sure everything was going smoothly as she hadn't known she was pregnant until at least six weeks after conception, which is considered eight weeks pregnant. She had everything planned out perfectly, she would see Finn a few days later back in Lima before he shipped out and she would give him the ultrasound picture to take with him.

The more Rachel had thought about their situation the more she realized what a wonderful father Finn was going to be. He was such a loving man and was kind of like a big kid himself. Yes, it was earlier than they had planned to conceive, and of course they would get heat from their families, but they were adults, they could handle this. Rachel had even figured out how to handle school with a pregnancy and a baby. She wasn't due until May, which would be almost the end of the year, she would just ask her professors to give her the finals early. Then she would be able to head home to Lima for the baby's birth and spend the summer adjusting to motherhood before classes started again in the fall.

Waiting in the ultrasound room Rachel smiled to herself. This was all going to be okay. She started to bubble with excitement when the ultrasound tech entered the room.

"Ms. Berry?" Rachel nodded at the older woman, "Hi, I'm Janet, and I am here to take a look at that baby!"

"Alright!" Rachel smiled at the tech, she seemed to be just as excited as Rachel felt.

"Okay hon, now I need you to expose your belly for me, perfect," Rachel rolled up her shirt so Janet could see the small bump that had formed on Rachel's lower abdomen.

"I am going to squeeze some of this Jelly on your tummy and then we will be able to get to work." Janet quickly went to work and up on the big screen in the room Rachel saw her baby for the first time.

"Oh my gosh!" Rachel gasped, "There it is!"

"Yep, that's the baby, and right here you can see a nice strong heartbeat," Rachel's eyes started to tear as Janet pointed out the baby's anatomy on the screen.

"Is this your first?" Janet asked seeing Rachel's reaction.

"Yes. I am just so amazed, I didn't think I would be able to see anything yet, let alone such a clear image of it." Rachel said.

"Modern technology is amazing isn't it." Janet smiled at the young mother.

Rachel just smiled and looked back at her baby on the screen. Yep, this was all going to work out fine. It had to, because now there was this little person inside of her who meant more than anything else.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Finn had figured out exactly how he was going to handle the situation with Rachel. He felt like a smuck. No, wait, that's not it, what had rachel's dad called him in Junior year when he was dateing Quinn again? Oh yah, schmuck. He was a schmuck, he had put Rachel through so much and now he was going to lay this on her. But he knew he had to. How could he let Rachel worry the way he knew she would. If they weren't together than at least she could try to move on, well not too much, and distract herself from the fact he was going to war.

The plan was set, he would call Rachel on Friday night, a day before he was heading back to Lima and ask her to meet him at the Lima Bean Saturday afternoon. He was going to tell her that they needed to talk. Once they got there he planned on telling her that he met someone else in basic training and that it was the end for Rachel and him. There was that sick feeling again. He just hoped he could get through it. He had originally thought about doing the whole thing over the phone, but he had to see her again before he left.

He really hoped he was doing the right thing.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

It was three o'clock on Saturday when Rachel arrived at the Lima Bean to wait on Finn. He had sounded strange on the phone the other night, but she figured it was just jitters, after all he _was_ headed to war. When she saw him her breath hitched. There he was, all six foot three of him, even more built than before, in his fatigues. Wow did he look good, not just good, amazing. Thoughts of ravishing him later passed through Rachel's mind, after all he really did deserve a good send off.

Finn spotted Rachel, who was stratigically sitting at a table to hide her bump, and immeadiatly Rachel noticed that something was off about him. He didn't smile, in fact it almost seemed like he grimaced. Could he have found out about the pregnancy? Was he mad about it? No one else knew how could he have found out? Nervousness overtook her as Finn headed toward her with his head down.

"Hey Rach," he said with little enthusiasim as he sat across from her.

"Finn," Rachel breathed, "you look amazing."

"Thanks," he said looking out the window next to them, "Look, I need to talk to you."

"Okay…"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"I met someone else," he was going to vomit, he was sure of it. There she was, looking gorgeouse, almost like glowing or something, and he was being a total dick. It's for the best, he kept telling himself, it's for the best.

"What?" He looked up just in time to see Rachel's face go pale. How was he going to get through this, all he wanted to do is hug her and kiss her and tell her he was just being stupid, but he couldn't.

"It happened at training, I'm really sorry Rachel," he couldn't look at her anymore, tears were stinging the back of his eyes, he had to hurry up and get through this, "I didn't mean for it to happen, it just did. I wanted to tell you before I left, it's not going to work between you and I Rachel, our lives are too different now."

"Finn, no, please!" Tears were streaming down Rachel's face at this point.

"I'm sorry," Finn's voice was raspy as he stood up and walked out of the Lima Bean, leaving a crest fallen Rachel Berry in his wake. His mouth was dry, oh G-d, what did he just do?

He didn't notice the small piece of paper Rachel pulled out to look at before she began to sob, if he had he probably would have never kept walking.


	3. Chapter 3

**So sorry for the delay in updateing! I'm hoping to get the next chapter up quicker, and of course, thank you so much for all the kind reviews and story alerts!**

**Don't own a thing**

After Finn left Rachel sobbing in that coffee house life had been rough for both of them. They just weren't good without each other. Rachel had struggled her way through her first year of school. She managed to get a job at a Broadway box office and had used it as her excuse to not go back to Lima. She wasn't ready to announce to everyone that she was knocked up and that the father of her child, the man she was completely in love with, had walked out of her life. She was ashamed and embaressed of her situation. It was a surprise visit from her father's over her spring break that brought Rachel's secret into the open.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

Rachel opened the door to her very modest off campus studio apartment thinking it was the delivery man from the chinese resturant only to come face to face with her fathers. Both men were grinning like crazy excited to have actually surprised their little Rachey, not an easy task, until they noticed the ever growing bump under her shirt. Their faces fell in near unison and Rachel's shocked expression turned into one of sadness and regret.

"I am so sorry," Rachel sobbed over come with emotion now that her father's knew what she had been hiding. She hid her face in her hands to try and hide the shame she felt. Hiram was the first to step forward and enveloped her in a hug, shushing her and stroking her hair. Leroy wasn't so kind.

"WHO DID THIS TO YOU RACHEL?" He boomed, unaware of just how frightening he could be.

"Dad, please, it wasn't done to me, please don't be so angry."

"How can I not be Rachel! You've been hiding this from us for what six months?"

"Seven," she whimpered.

"Now I understand why you never wanted to come home," Leroy sighed and put pressure on the bridge of his nose. "Rachel, I'm not angry, I am just really disapointed in you." This only brought more tears to Rachel's eyes, she had expected this from her father but it didn't make it sting any less.

Hiram, being the more understanding of the two, kept stroking Rachel's head and asked quietly, "So seven months ago was before you and Finn broke up, does that mean the baby is his sweetie?"

"Yes," Rachel choked out, "and he doesn't even know about it!" This made the tears come on heavy all over again. Despite their dissapoinment both of Rachel's fathers felt horrible for their little girl.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

After Hiram and Leroy had time to digest the news that they were becoming grandparents they began to warm up to the idea. They understood that Rachel wasn't ready to tell the world about her baby yet but they gave her the option to come back home after she finished her first year of school so they could help her with the baby. The more she was learning about parenthood, and the harder school was becoming while pregnant, the more she was starting to understand that she was going to probably have to take a semester off of school to adjust to motherhood. She couldn't be a musical theater major and have an infant, the hours for both were too demanding. It was decided that after finals in May Rachel would move back home, only two weeks before her due date.

Of course life rarely works out as planned and the day of her last final, the day before she was supposed to head home, Rachel went into labor. She was sitting at dinner with a few of her friends, celebrating the end of the school year when she felt the first pang of a contraction. She tried to write it off as braxton hicks saying that it was normal to have cramping and "fake" contractions thirty eight weeks into a pregnancy. Ten minutes and two contractions later her friends decided that someone should at least take her home to rest. She declined to have a chapperone stating that she was perfectly able to ride in a cab by herself. Halfway home she was regretting that decision as the contractions had become more regular and more painful. She had the cabbie take her to Mount Sinai Hospital where the obgyn she had been seeing was based out of.

Once she got to the hospital everything became a whirlwind. Being Rachel she had wanted to try to get through labor and delivery without an epidural, but by the time she was five centimeters dialated she was demanding that the anesthesiologist get to her immeadiatly. It was a relief to everyone when he did in fact get there and get some medication in the crazy little brunette that had the nurses rolling there eyes and cringing at the same time.

Rachel's labor lasted for six hours and she pushed for half an hour until the doctor annouced to the room, "We have a healthy baby boy!" Rachel, being a controlist, of course already knew the baby was a boy but had decided to not tell her friends from school or her dads, who were on a plan flying to New York, what the baby's gender was. She felt it was more exciting that way for everyone else.

"What's his name honey?" One of the nurses asked.

"Jonathon, Jonathon David Hudson," Rachel replied. Jonathon had been Finn's father's middle name and Rachel had always planned on using it for their first son. She just couldn't go and name a jewish baby Christopher, but she felt that Jonathon paid tribute to Finn and his father properly, even if Finn didn't know this little boy existed.

Rachel held her son to her for the first time, after he was cleaned off and his measurments and vitals were checked, and she fell in love. He already looked so much like his father. She wondered if his eyes would be the same hazle as Finn's or if they would turn into her dark chocolate hue. Then as if she was getting a sign Johnny's little mouth curled up into a side smirk for a moment in his sleep.

Rachel sighed, "Well I guess we've got a mini-Finn then." She let her mind wander into a day dream where Finn was there with her welcoming their son into the world. Rachel gazed at her little boy and pretended that his father was standing over her shoulder doing the same thing.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

In early May Finn began to get homesick, more homesick than was normal. He hadn't heard anything about Rachel since that day back in the fall and not for lack of asking. Each time he talked to home he would also call Kurt, who was at a fashion school in Los Angeles, to ask if he had any info on Rachel. All Kurt knew was that Rachel was supposedly still in New York and wasn't really talking to anyone except for a quick e-mail here and there. Kurt had tried to visit Rachel in New York over winter break but she had a laundry list of excuses as to why Kurt shouldn't come to see her. Kurt had felt snubbed but Finn was just confused, Rachel and Kurt were close, and they had talked about Kurt visiting her in New York all summer, Finn was concerned that his actions had caused Rachel to want to distance herself from Kurt. It just made him want to get home faster so he could find Rachel and apologize to her.

Finn had been planning his apology to Rachel since the day he left. He, of course, planned on singing to her, because really what other way was better to get through to Rachel Berry? He was going to get as many of the Glee kids as he could to help him. He would set up the auditorium at McKinley so it was really pretty, he would sing to her and then explain to her why he did what he did, and how much he loves her. He would tell her about how the whole time they've been apart his mind was always filled with thoughts of her. He had even thought about proposing to her when he did all this, but figured that she might need some time to accept him back so he should probably start slow.

It was around the time that Finn had started to become so desperatly homesick that the insurgents in his area of Afghanistan really started coming after them. It was really only a matter of time before Finn ended up in a bad situation, his mind was focused on a petite brunette back home, not on the job at hand. The inevitable happened while he was patrolling a small village with his unit, he turned the corner of a building and the next thing he knew he was on the floor bleeding from his shoulder, the guy he was with was firing into an adjacent structure. Finn was starting to fade from conciousness and all he could think of was Rachel, he would never get to see her again, to hold her again. He was going to die. The last thing he heard while lying on the street was a buddy yelling at two other soldiers to find the medic.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Finn awoke two days later in a recovery room in a make shift army hospital. Pain was raidiating from his right shoulder, but he was alive. He thanked grilled cheeseus or whoever it was who was up there giving him a second chance and sank into his pillow. He knew what his injury meant. He was going to get to go home. He was going to get to go find Rachel.


	4. Chapter 4

**Please forgive me for the long interlude between updates! Entertaing three kids all summer long has pretty much made me give up any time I'e had to myself. Thanks for all the reviews and alerts!**

A few weeks after Johnny's birth Rachel made the trip back to Ohio with her dads. They had set up the guestroom in their home as a nursery for the new baby, and had purchased practically every baby item on the market. They had quickly become doting grand parents. The Berry's had always lived their lives with an, "everything happens for a reason," attitude, and they knew that the only thing they could do was to make the best out of the situation.

Rachel spent the first few months of motherhood trying to adjust to her new role. She had read all the baby books she could and had researched having a newborn, but nothing really quite prepares you for the situation like just being in it. Rachel was learning the way every new mother does. For the most part things were going the way they should. Johnny was a healthy thriving baby, but none the less around two months after his birth Rachel started to hit a low. She supposed it was the "baby blues" that she had read about. More than anything the blues just made her miss the one big thing that was missing for her and Johnny's life, Finn.

Rachel had spent most of her time since getting back to Lima at her father's house. She rarely ventured out because she was terrified of running into someone she knew. She wasn't ready to face anyone yet, wasn't ready for the comments, to answer the questions. Mostly she wasn't ready to have to tell Finn. She knew that eventually she would have to tell him, but the heartache she felt was so deep, she wasn't sure she would even be able to talk to him without imploding into herself. Plus, she had no idea where in the world Finn was.

XXXXXXXXX

Finn had returned to Ohio only a few days after Rachel had. His mother and Burt picking him up at the Columbus airport. Carole ran to her son when he appeared on the escalator leading to baggage claim, blocking the walkway for all the other departing passengers trying to get to their luggage.

"Finn Hudson! Don't you ever scare me like that again!" She cried at him as she grabbed his non-bandaged side and hugged him to her.

"I won't mom, I promise," Finn said tearing up, feeling awful that his mother had gone through such a scare.

Finn got home that night swearing that the first thing he would do in the morning would be search for Rachel. Little did he know all he had to do was drive a few miles away to the Berry's home to find her, and her surprise.

XXXXXXXX

It had been two weeks since Finn had started looking for Rachel and he had come up empty. He began with his old glee club friends hoping that someone had heard something from her, but even Santana and Brittany who had been living in New York, trying to build a career as dancers. Hadn't heard a thing from her for months. Everyone seemed to agree, it was as if she had just vanished, which made Finn exceedingly nervous. If something bad had happened to her someone would have known right? Finn had called NYU even only to find out that they did not have have a listing for a student named Rachel Berry. Nothing was adding up, and Finn was out of options, as much as he was dreading it he was going to have to swallow his pride and go to Rachel's Dad's to find out where she was. He decided that Sunday morning was the day he would go over to the Berry's to beg for forgiveness from Rachel's dads and to hopefully find out where she was. Of course first he would need a good breakfast though, so he and Carol headed to the Pancake House down the street. Carol coming with him for moral support before he had to go face the Mr. Berry's by himself.

Finn and Carol began their breakfast chatting about what Finn should expect from his trip to the Berry's house, which he knew wasn't much.

"Finn, you have to keep in mind that Rachel may have moved on," Carol stated her heart breaking a little at her son's grimace. "I know it's hard to think about honey, but I want you to be prepared for any situation."

"I know mom," Finn stated, "but I'd rather go in with more of a positive attitude. I'll face that if I come to it."

"Okay honey, I understand," Carol reassured her son. Despite that fact that she hadn't completely agreed with Finn's decision to break things off with Rachel she had understood why he did. Finn had been forced to grow up in the past year in ways that Carol would only ever be able to imagine. She was proud of him, but a bit sad for him at the same time.

Finn and Carol wrapped up their meal, Finn insisting on covering the tab and Carol laughing, at him being so grown up, despite herself. Carol excused herself to the restroom while they were waiting for the check and headed to the back of the restaurant. In the last booth in the corner she noticed something that made her pause. A pretty little brunette was sitting at the table and she seemed to be nursing a baby under a cover. What made Carol basically stop and stare was the fact that she recognized that little brunette, as well as the two men she sat with. Carol kept watching as the girl fixed her clothing and pulled the young baby out to burp it. The child looked to be about a month old, plus the nine months of pregnancy, added up to something that Carol was having a hard time comprehending. While Carol was putting the math together the brunette looked up a look of shock matching Carol's passing over her features.

"Rachel!" Carol gasped.


	5. Chapter 5

**As always thank you so much for all the kind reviews, it really does make me want to write more! I probably should have been cleaning this morning, but instead I ended up writing, hope you enjoy!**

Spotting Carol Rachel took in a sharp breath and stood from her spot at the booth she had been sitting at with her fathers.

"Hi Carol," she said lightly still patting Jonathon on the back lightly. Rachel had known in the back of her head that she would eventually run into someone she knew and would have to explain herself, but she had hoped it would be later rather than sooner. She had also hoped it would not be someone related to one Finn Hudson.

"Rachel," Carol repeated hesitantly, "Is this your baby?"

"I am so sorry Carol," Rachel began hoping that Carol would understand why she kept this secret, "I should have told you when I found out, but I just couldn't. I couldn't face anyone, my heart was too broken. I didn't even tell my dads, they found out when they tried to surprise me in New York a few months ago. Please don't hate me I honestly never even thought of how this might effect you, I'm a horrible person aren't I?"

"No Rachel!" Carol exclaimed as the girl began to sniffle, "You are not horrible at all! Yes, I do wish you had told us, but I know now at least. May I hold him? It's a boy right?"

"Yes," Rachel smiled drying her eyes and then passing her son to his grandmother, "His name is Jonathon."

"Oh Rachel! Thank you! You used Christopher's middle name!"

"Yes," she smiled shyly, glad that it meant as much to Carol as she had hoped it would.

Carol bounced the infant gently in her arms falling in love with him as he rested his little head on her shoulder falling asleep. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes as her emotions took over. She had quickly realized how much of Finn she saw in Jonathon. She almost felt like she had been thrown back in time and was looking at her own son as an infant. Sighing she looked at Rachel who was looking at Jonathon with as much adoration she herself had been.

"Rachel honey, you do realize that you are going to have to tell Finn right?" Carol questioned.

"Who has to tell me what?" Carol and Rachel heard an all too familiar voice come from behind them, "Mom, whose baby is that?"

Carol and Rachel froze, when Carol had told Rachel she had to tell Finn she hadn't meant right that second, honestly she had almost forgotten that he was even still in the restaurant. Her mind had been elsewhere.

"Finn," Rachel breathed.

"Rachel?" Finn questioned, "I've been trying to find you! Where have you been."

"Uh, I just came home a few weeks ago," Rachel answered uncomfortably her eyes shifting between Carol holding her son and the fairly oblivious father.

"Finn…" Carol started.

"Rach, I've missed you so much," Finn said stepping closer to her.

"Um, Finn…" Rachel began only to also be cut off.

"Mr. and Mr. Berry!" Finn exclaimed noticing Rachel's fathers who were taking in the scene from their table with some amusement. They had been begging Rachel for months to just tell Finn about his son, they knew it would eventually come back to bite her in the butt.

"Finn!" Both Carol and Rachel yelled.

"What?" Finn turned around confused by their outburst. Unfortunately once they got Finn's attention neither woman really knew what to say. After a few moments of awkward silence it was Jonathon who broke the ice by waking up and letting out a little cry.

"Oh baby, come here," Rachel cooed retrieving her son from Carol's arms. "Here you go baby," she rocked the baby in one arm while retrieving his pacifier with the other, looking like a seasoned professional at the job of motherhood.

Finn looked on with even more confusion written across his face.

"Mom, whose baby is that?" He asked again looking at his mother. Carol still at a loss for how to approach this subject and feeling that it was Rachel's news to break looked at the mother who had started softly singing to her infant that was quickly falling asleep in her arms.

"Rach?" Finn inquired, his voice starting to crack as he picked up on what everyone else seemed to already know.

Looking up from her now sleeping infant Rachel said in a near whisper, "He's mine Finn."

_He's Rachel's?_ Finn thought, _How is that possible? Have we been apart for that long? She must have instantly run into the arms of another guy? Was there already someone else the last time I saw her? How could she do that to me? Do exactly what I told her I did to her. _Finn was starting to see red, both for the idea that Rachel had not only been intimate with another man but that she had had this man's baby, and for the idea that he had caused all of this in the first place. The rest of the group watching Finn's face had assumed that his anger was due to the realization that he had figured out Rachel had kept his son from him. They were rather surprised with the next statement that came out of his mouth.

"Well you sure got over us fast didn't you?" Finn spit out. "So who did you find to knock you up? Huh Rach? Is he a good dad? I'm _real_ happy for you Rachel. I hope you have a great life with whoever it is you screwed!"

"Finn Hudson!" Carol exclaimed, appalled at her son's vulgarity.

"Finn, it wasn't… I didn't…" Rachel tried to explain herself for once in her life at a loss for words.

"Yah whatever," Finn grumbled. He was going to loose it, he knew it. Feeling the familiar sting of tears in the back of his eyes he knew he had to get out of there. "Have a good life Rachel," He growled as he turned to leave.

"Wait a second!" Rachel exclaimed her words finally coming to her, "You're the one who left me! Remember Finn? _You_ are the one who met someone else! _You_ are the one who broke _my _heart!" By now most of the patrons of the restaurant were watching the scene in the back unfold.

Finn was stung by Rachel's words. They hurt, but they were true, this was all his fault. He wished so badly at that moment he could go back in time to tell himself how stupid it would be to end things with Rachel, to tell himself how stupid of an idea it truly was.

"There was never anyone else Rachel." Finn said raw with emotion, "I only told you that to protect you. I couldn't bear the thought of you waiting for me if I never made it home. I didn't want you to go through what my mom went through." Finn glanced at Carol with his last words seeing tears in her eyes at both the situation at hand and the memory of her late husband.

Finn chose that moment to take his leave from the restaurant, ignoring the stares he was getting from the other customers, desperately just wanting to get to his truck so he could let the emotion that had crescendoed inside him out.

Rachel was left feeling vulnerable and alone in the freaking pancake house. _How's that for dramatic _she bitterly thought to herself.

"Rachey, baby, I think you need to go talk to him," Hiram finally spoke up from the booth. Leroy sat beside him nodding at his daughter.

"Here honey, I'll take the baby," Carol said reaching for the amazingly still sleeping infant.

"But who knows where he is now?" Rachel said.

"If I know my son he hasn't gone far," Carol helped, "He's probably in his truck in the parking lot."

"Okay," Rachel said taking a deep breath to settle her nerves. Leaning down she gave Jonathon a kiss on the forehead, "Wish Mommy luck baby." With as much courage as she could muster she headed out to the parking lot to face the man who had broken her heart, now understanding he had done so only to protect her.


End file.
